Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy new year! What better way to start the year than with a blog post about some brand new flaky topcoats and some pretty spring purples?

Zoya's Spring 2011 collection is a two-parter this year. One part is the usual spring set of three cremes and three shimmers, and to go along with it is a mini set of three "Fleck Effect" flaky topcoats. Take a look!

Zoya True Collection Spring 2012

Zoya Bevin. Bevin is this soft, dirty, dreamy-looking type of green turquoise color. It looks antique to me. I really love this color, so it's a shame that it looks so terrible on me. Lobster hands to the extreme. Probably best for people who don't have a lot of red or pink in their skin like I do.

Zoya Cho. Usually it seems like these things are named after reality TV people or models and actresses, but maybe... just maybe... this one might be named after something I know? Probably not, but still technically yes, right? Anyway... This is a warm, yellow toned creamy shade. Little hidden silver shimmer in it. Not right for my skin tone, but I can see this looking better on someone warmer than me. I think it accentuates how dry and sore my cuticles look. Winter is killing my hands. Bleh.

Zoya Farah. Now this one I like. It's another 'dirty' shade, this time it's sort of fleshy and beigey with a distinctive green tint to it. At least on my skin it looks like it has a greenish cast. Could just be the red in my skin bringing it out. Makes me think of a safari pith helmet:

Zoya Lotus. This one is more my style. It's a smoky cool purple with glowy pink shimmer. I had to take a picture with flash to get the shimmer to come out, but see how it looks like burning embers? Love that. Little warning about this one: it dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle.

Zoya Skylar. Neat looking slate blue with both gold and silver shimmer. The shimmer is the chunky, flaky kind so it really stands out. Not quite glittery, but definitely distinct pieces. Dries completely smooth. This is not really a common shade of blue, either. It looks calm and kinda faded/antiqued looking.

Zoya Tru. This is a little bit like Lotus, but a warm version. It's red toned and Lotus is blue toned. Like Lotus, it dries at least a full shade darker than it appears in the bottle. You can watch it happening right on your nails- it's very strange! Anyway, this is super purple looking, not quite as dusty/smoky as Lotus, but not a clean purple either. Just a little muted. The shimmer in this is warm red and gold while Lotus has cooler pink shimmer. Both are super pretty.

And remember when I mentioned another collection of 'flakies' coming out in Spring 2012? Here it is:

Zoya Fleck Effect Collection Spring 2012

Zoya Chloe Fleck Effect Topcoat. This is a clear but tinted base with medium and small sized flakes. It's a combination of the red/orange/gold/yellow multichrome flake style and a little bit of some small-sized green/blue duochrome flakes. This is definitely my favorite of the three. It has the most colors and the most depth. And it's not a Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure/Nubar 2010/Essie Shine of the Times/GOSH Rainbow (et cetera, ad nauseum) dupe, which I appreciate.

Zoya Maisie Fleck Effect Topcoat. This is a clear but blue-tinted base with medium and small blue-green flakes. It's a lot like Nfu Oh 54. You can get it to shift to yellow at some angles, but it's mostly just that bright green-bright blue-bright turquoise color all the time.

Zoya Opal Fleck Effect Topcoat. This is a clear but slightly green tinted base with bright green/blue flakes. It looks nearly the same as Maisie, but it seems more green. It stays green at angles where the flakes in Maisie would shift to another color.

Here's the Fleck Effect topcoat shades layered over the shades in the True collection. Each combination is one coat of Fleck Effect topcoat over three coats of polish.

Chloe over Cho.

Chloe over Tru.

Maisie over Lotus.

Maisie over Skylar.

Opal over Bevin.

Opal over Farah.

And some closeups. Each picture is one coat of Fleck Effect topcoat over a black creme polish. These are pretty big pictures, you may like to enlarge them to see more detail.

Zoya Opal - Zoya Maisie - Zoya Chloe

Zoya Opal - Zoya Maisie - Zoya Chloe

Opal over black.

Maisie over black.

Chloe over black.

The formula on these was good. All of the True collection shades were smooth and opaque. The Fleck Effect shades are meant to be topcoats which means that they're all sheer. The True shades applied easily, maybe a little more runny than the usual Zoya creme formula, but didn't give me any major trouble. The Fleck Effects were a little gooey feeling and a little globby, but again, not troublesome. I did three coats of each in the pictures above. Dry time on the True shades was nice and quick but the Fleck Effects took a bit longer.

My thoughts? The neutrals (Cho, Farah) seem out of place in this collection, especially right on the heels of the new Feel collection of neutrals. The rest of the shades are colorful but soft and I would have liked to see two more colors instead of two more beiges.

The addition of the three flake glitter topcoats really spices up the neutrals and dusty colors and they all layer well together. My only criticism for the Fleck Effect portion is that Maisie and Opal look too much alike, especially when layered; adding a blue-purple style duochrome flake would have given us three distinctly different looking flake topcoats. Otherwise, they apply well, layer well with any color, and dry a little more quickly than a lot of the other flaky polishes I've bought in the past (like Nfu Oh, which takes forever).

Did all bloggers get instructed to post up their Zoya reviews at Midnight EST? Lol. Oh well, I still LOVE looking at all reviews for the same product so I get to see every-ones opinions. Thanks for the lovely review & swatches =)

I am soooo happy that I am not the only one who thought of Cho Chang when I saw the leaked press release for Zoya Cho... might have to get that one for the name even though it prob won't look good with my pink undertones.. I am quite curious about how Skylar is going to compare to OPI Don't Give A Rotterdam.

Wow! It's been a long time since I've wanted nearly every polish in the collection! I like that the flakies are a bit different than all the others being released right now. I'll definitely have to get my hands on this collection. Now I just need a Zoya promo please! Lol

'Skylar' reminds me of that old crayola color Cadet Blue--one of my (now discontinued) favorites! I'm loving the shimmers and flakies! I agree that the neutrals feel a bit like 'Feel' second-stringers... I'm excited to see this collection!

I want all of the True collection except Cho and Farah. Cho immediately made me think of a good friend of mine, b/c that's his last name. Too bad he doesn't wear nail polish, or I'd buy it for him...lol.

I'm not the biggest flakie fan, but I think Nfu Oh's flakies beat the pants off of the others I've seen. I'll pass on these.

Chloe over Tru is my faaaavorite combination in these. Great polishes though <3 Too bad they take 3 coats for opacity ): I don't like using more than 2 coats of polish b/c I'm always layering over them.

Cho & Farrah I will try & skip. It's so easy just to order the complete set. I wish they would have added 2 other shades like the rest. Those neutrals are so out of place. Your right about them having those two when they did release the neutral collection. The rest of the collection I will be ordering. There goes my resolution of cutting back on my polish buying. Happy New Year everyone.

Not only have i been dying to see more flakies, but i have to tell you, Scrangie, how much i appreciate your swatches! There are soo many different ones, always, and we all realize it takes time. THANK YOU.

I am completely ditto on your thoughts regarding this collection. Had it only been one neutral would have got me to get the entire set because it costs the same as if not getting the entire set if there's just 1 you are iffy on. I will only buy 4 and the 2 you also liked of the flakies - maybe even only the pink one since I have similar to the other two that are sooooo alike. I called it - I said this would be the year of the toppers, light toppers/flakes (not so much the glitters). I think what glitters we will see that will be popular will be the super micro glitters like the Essie Gold is from the Essie LuxeEffects - Sure seems companies are trying to push the really soft neutrals. I am sorry - I still have had my fill of them from days of French manis and then the manikin hands. I have so many left, I am not ready for that trend to keep coming at us so often in other collections.

Skylar and OPI Holland Rotterdam are much more similar in person, I'd say one or the other but you don't need both, I like OPI's formula better.Thanks a Windmillion are practically the same in person, unless you compare them side by side in great light. Bevin is a little more smokey.Farah and OPI Van Gogh are pretty close. You don't need both.Why oh why both Lotus and Tru here? They are too close with Lotus in my mind being the clear winner for my $'s.And Opal??? Why? As you said - way too much like Malise - you don't need both no matter what. Watch out for the major dups in this collection and the OPI Holland collection. Also if you own a nute you like - skip Cho and Farrah. Essie Sand Tropez of last spring 2011 French Affair is a super close dupe for OPI Holland Van Gough with a tish of Farah tossed in there. Cho might be one if you are warm skin toned you might like because it is so yellowed.